Have you been seeing a lot of memes this week about JD Vance making steamy love on couches? You are not alone. Social media sites like X and TikTok are abuzz with jokes about the Republican vice presidential nominee and his supposed history of being a dirty latex-glove couch potato. But where did these rumors start? And why is it so funny?
To be clear at the outset, there is no evidence that Vance hit the couch. As far as we know, the Senator from Ohio has never taken a latex glove, taken it outside, and placed it between the sofa cushions so he could crawl into the furniture like a human partner. This has never happened. Maybe.
So where did this meme start? It can all be traced back to a tweet since deleted by X user @rickrudescalves.
“can’t say for sure but he may be the first vp pick who admitted on multiple occasions to wearing an inner latex glove stuffed between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181),” user X wrote.
Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy, does not contain any passages about sleeping and sofas, not on pages 179-181 or anywhere else. But there are a number of other unusual stories from the book that have gone viral, including one about her anger at being offered sparkling water. There have been jokes and fake screenshots about sparkling water, but the basic story is true if you believe it.
But let’s not digress. We’re here to talk about JD Vance and the fact that he doesn’t fit into couches. The tweet that started all the couch rumors was sent on July 15, the same day it was announced that Donald Trump had chosen Vance as his running mate. And while it took a while to process, it has become a widespread meme.
We’ve compiled some meme examples below, just in case you haven’t seen them. But it’s all over the place at this point. And it will likely have a long shelf life as Vance and Trump continue their campaign to make this country worse.
X user @Eagleman42069 shared the best meme apparently found elsewhere on the web that reads “my stupid girl thicc.”
— otto highway, hand of queen kamala targaryen 🥥🌴 (@eagleman42069) July 24, 2024
Another viral video shows Vance with a montage of sofas, set to the song “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar.
Oh my God pic.twitter.com/G8beJlERn4
– UAE Exotic Falconry & Finance𓅃 (@FalconryFinance) July 24, 2024
X user @snchlmers79 shared a luxury sofa that would appeal to Vance. Anyone who really has couches.
JD Vance seeing this sofa pic.twitter.com/shpJtTotZ7
— 🤌🏼Super Nintendo Chalmers🤌🏼 (@snchlmers79) July 24, 2024
A fake political account that goes by the name Rep. Jack Kimble tweeted about the Vance story while pointing out the vice president’s extreme position on abortion.
Although JD Vance is against abortion, he supports birth control. pic.twitter.com/c3AIi2Pqx5
– Rep. Jack Kimble (@RepJackKimble) July 23, 2024
Then there’s a funny meme with a “this bad boy can match many” joke.
lmao pic.twitter.com/fZLtDwWzWw
— otto highway, hand of queen kamala targaryen 🥥🌴 (@eagleman42069) July 23, 2024
And it wouldn’t be a love meme video without a little Barry White music.
Last one…I promise. pic.twitter.com/6yIm1m7WqX
— Meacham 🌊 🌊 (@MeachamDr) July 22, 2024
X user @christweetsllc shared a gif from The Chappelle Show that also thought of the Vance twist.
JD Vance was like him pic.twitter.com/UCUkdcOfk7
– Thanks to ultramarathon 🍉 (@christweetsllc) July 24, 2024
Gifs from the show It’s always sunny in Philadelphia was also popular, with the one showing Danny DeVito getting off the couch.
Some memes, like this one on Reddit, have made reference to Diet Mountain Dew. Vance made a weird reference to soda at his first solo campaign rally, trying to say that people would call the drink racist. It’s unclear what he meant since it wasn’t in left field.
A Reddit user shared a meme that even included a latex glove in a parody of the movie poster.
X-User Eric Allen Hatch turned the incident into a Twin Peaks reference.
JD Vance when he had his own house pic.twitter.com/HaV37bMEgn
— Eric Allen Hatch (@ericallenhatch) July 24, 2024
However, someone else shared a bed that might have the qualities Vance was looking for in a piece of furniture.
Whatever you do, don’t tell JD Vance about this sofa. pic.twitter.com/YhuOnGypBC
– QENNY Lovecraft (@AKBrews) July 16, 2024
X user @eagleman42069 had another joke about extraction.
— otto highway, hand of queen kamala targaryen 🥥🌴 (@eagleman42069) July 24, 2024
Then there are the photoshops that suggest Vance is not welcome in furniture stores.
Seen in the wild 👀 pic.twitter.com/hUmVwX1ggy
— TheRealThelmaJohnson (@TheRealThelmaJ1) July 23, 2024
But what if I pretend to be a sofa, then?
There are, of course, some people who seem to think that Vance may have hit his couch. And given how weird Vance is, that’s not surprising. The guy has negative charisma and if someone looks like a guy who keeps getting into the sofa, this is a surprise.
I feel like no one told Trump that his VP wrote a memoir where he talks about bed cushions. And you will find out. And the walls bleed ketchup. Just wait. 🤭 pic.twitter.com/0UBDHxgV7W
— Sarah Larchmont (@SarahLarchmont) July 24, 2024
Not all jokes become memes that use pictures or videos. Some simple one-liners like “jd vance: da sofa king of Kings,” was tweeted by Illumi on Bluesky.
As you can see, there are many jokes to choose from. Meanwhile, the pro-Vance side of the political coin just can’t help themselves with overtly racist memes about Kamala Harris.
The election is still a little more than three months away and Harris will be looking to energize voters in an already impressive way. The vice president has been talking about the dangers of Project 2025 and touting his credentials as a former prosecutor who can handle the impeachment of Donald Trump.
No one knows what will happen when the American people go to the polls in November. But Democrats are feeling a lot better than they did a few weeks ago. And while Harris fans happily post coconut tree memes, Republicans are trying to figure out how to elect a neo-fascist thug and a guy who may not have eaten a couch, but certainly sounds like the type to do so.
